Jharal Yow Yeh (born 22 December 1989) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer who played for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite c ...

in the NRL. An Australian international and Queensland

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

representative or , he also played for the Indigenous All Stars. Yow Yeh spent his entire club career with the Broncos, which was cut short due to a bad leg break and complications.

Background

Yow Yeh was born in

Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, to Rhonda Yow Yeh; Yow Yeh is an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Isl ...

of the Margany tribe and is also of part

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

descent. His surname is

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

; his great-great-grandfather was Chinese and his grandmother was part Samoan and lived in

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

before settling in Queensland. Yow Yeh is related to former

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful i ...

player Kevin Yow Yeh, who died before Jharal was born. While Kevin Yow Yeh has often been reported as Jharal's great-uncle, he was actually Jharal's grandfather's first cousin; the family describes their relationship as "third cousins". Yow Yeh attended

Ferny Grove State High School Ferny Grove State High School is a public secondary school in the suburb of Ferny Grove, in Brisbane, Australia. The school has a total enrolment of more than 1900 students, with an official count of 1963 students in 2021. In 2007, the school ...

, where he finished his senior education in 2006. In 2007, Yow Yeh was in The

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

junior system and played there for one season but then had his scholarship torn up and was told by then Parramatta recruitment chief

Rod Reddy Rod Reddy (born 1 March 1954) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. He played in the NSWRL Premiership for the St. George Dragons between 1972 and 1983 and the Illawarra Steelers between 1984 and 1985. He also re ...

that he would never make first grade and would not be able to cut it. When reflecting back on the moment he was told the news Yow Yeh said "Parramatta told me that I wouldn't be able to cut it and I thought that was it, I had no idea what I was going to do". After graduating from school Yow Yeh played junior football for West

Arana Hills Arana Hills is a suburb in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Arana Hills had a population of 6,810 people. Geography Arana Hill is located north-west of Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland and on the edge of the Bun ...

and

Norths Devils The Northern Suburbs Devils, or North Brisbane Devils, or often simply referred to as Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They pl ...

. He played in the Under-20s for the

and was named in the 2008 National Youth Competition's team of the year.

Playing career

Yow Yeh made his

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

debut for the

Suncorp Stadium Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

in the 2009 NRL season's Round 1 clash with the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

. Yow Yeh was named to the Indigenous All Stars team in 2010, during which season he injured his leg, missing five rounds. The same year he was named to the

Queensland rugby league team The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales in the State of ...

for Game II of the 2010

series, but was not needed to play. He saw playing time for Queensland in the 2011 State of Origin series, scoring his first State of Origin try in his Game I debut. The same year he was named to the Australian national team, filling in for injured wingers

Lote Tuqiri Lote Daulako Tuqiri (born 23 September 1979) is a former professional dual-code rugby footballer who primarily played as a winger across both codes. He represented Australia in both rugby league and rugby union, and Fiji in rugby league. Tuqi ...

and

Darius Boyd Darius Boyd (born 17 July 1987) is a former Australian professional rugby league footballer who played , , and for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL and has played for Australia at international level and State of Origin for Queensland. Boyd c ...

On 3 November 2011 Yow Yeh was named international rookie of the year at the annual

RLIF Awards The RLIF Awards are the Rugby League International Federation's annual major international sporting award for rugby league. Since 2004 the awards ceremony recognises the best referee, coach, developing nations player, international newcomer, captai ...

dinner at the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

. Yow Yeh featured in the 2012 NRL All Stars Game as the right winger for the Indigenous All Stars team. Yow Yeh started strong in the

2012 NRL season The 2012 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the first run by the newly formed Australian Rugby League Commission. The main competition, called the 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership due to spon ...

, scoring a crucial try in the second half against the

, the Broncos winning 18–6. In round 4 against the South Sydney Rabbitohs of the

, Yow Yeh suffered compound fracture of the lower right leg. Down 12–0 at the time of his injury, the Broncos went on to win 20–12. However Yow Yeh's 2012 season was over with a serious injury described as "motorbike-like". On 28 April 2013, Yow Yeh returned to rugby league, playing second row for the

. Yow Yeh announced, in March 2014, that he would retire from the game after failing to fully recover from the leg injury he suffered in 2012.Yow Yeh to retire
''Brisbane Broncos official website'', 17 March 2014

Statistics

References

External links

NRL profileJharal Yow Yeh at ''Brisbane Broncos''Jharal Yow Yeh at rleague.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yow Yeh, Jharal 1989 births Living people Australian rugby league players Rugby league players from Brisbane Indigenous Australian rugby league players Australian sportspeople of Chinese descent Australian people of Vanuatuan descent Australia national rugby league team players Brisbane Broncos players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Indigenous All Stars players Norths Devils players Redcliffe Dolphins players Rugby league wingers